Perfect Green Machine
maksim | 8:05 pm | March 31, 2008 | Laptop News
The world can either be a million shades of green or dead, as we all know. The Great Carbon Dragon is awake, his black, oil dripping wings are getting bigger, his fiery breath is getting hotter, snowcaps melt and bears die when the Dragon flies past.
The Dragon can’t be killed, but it can be put back to sleep. Like a bull on a corrida, it looses temper when it sees green colour, and rushes forward to kill and destroy. And the more green is around, the quicker the Dragon will get tired and fall down.
The Greenpeace is a small and ugly forest gnome that nobody likes, but in a battle against the Great Dragon he is the one who does all the dirty work.
The gnome has put his tiny toy sword on the left shoulder of Sony TZ laptop, to single it out as the best Green Machine. No preinstalled crapware and less polluting metals make the laptop the winner, and Sony – one of the leaders in Greenpeace search for the first company to Go Green.
On the other side is Nintendo, nasty Dragon-loving bad guy with black dirt under fingernails, the one we are all meant to hate now. However, after reading what Greenpeace has to say about Nintendo, it seems that it is mostly guilty of just not telling Greenpeace anything. Which gives the whole Greenpeace report an air of gossip, with Nintendo being made the scapegoat for refusing to play along with the ugly gnome.
Black Caviar Laptop
Christine | 1:08 am | March 26, 2008 | Concept Laptops, Laptop News
To be successful, a brand-new technical product has to be unusual (to be exciting), shiny (to attract eyes and hands), expensive (to show off), and functional (to justify the high price to yourself, even if it is so high that it cannot be justified).
The brainchild of designer Kyle Cherry, computer of new type called Canvas meets all the above requirements.
This multifunctional computer is meant to be a designer’s little helper: its aim is to ensure quick and easy switch from traditional pencils and paper to the world of raster and vector. Apart from bringing together a laptop and a tablet, it offers a unique navigation system which allows quick access to most used functions (a parallel with quick switching between a pencil, a rubber and a ruler can be drawn).
The surface is so bright and glossy, in case of a murder fingerprints can be taken directly from it, without any additional forensic devices.
Unfortunately, Canvas is a concept as yet, and we can only assume that it’s going to be expensive if put into production. Still, there is no reason to think that the price is likely to put people off, as we’ve already seen a good deal of less effective products, which were shamelessly overpriced (Airbook, SDD, black caviar).
UK Online Laptop Shops – Price Comparison
Boris | 10:03 pm | March 20, 2008 | Laptop News
There are lots of user guides, manuals and forums on how to buy a laptop. If you have already been there and know what you need now is the time to know where to get it.
We have selected three laptops for our price comparison study- one portable, one standard size, and one desktop replacement laptop. We have decided to stick with popular, mainstream machines, to make sure that all the retailers have it in stock.
Slick Sony Vaio TZ21MN/N represents the traveller’s choice. Mainstream group is behind HP 6715S, a perfect laptop for general home, business and educational use. And home media centres have delegated ASUS W2W with its good multimedia credentials and high performance.
We manually scanned prices of ten top UK online laptop retailers. We have not taken into account eBay, the obvious choice for best prices, but also the one with the risk of scam and patchy customer service. Then, we have put the aggregate rank for each seller taking into account prices and delivery charges (next day/regular). The lower is the rank the better are the average prices.
As you can see, there is no clear monopolist and we have different winners in each category, but Laptops Direct seems to head the list. However, with numerous special offers and extras given along with your purchase, and with prices constantly changing, it would be worthwhile checking several online laptop shops.
USBee
Christine | 8:52 pm | March 18, 2008 | USB Flash Drives
It seems that today high-tech products manufacturers compete in foreseeing possible breakages in their products: Sony were the 1st to use a built-in gyroscope in their laptops, Apple have introduced MagSafe. And it’s not surprising, since mobile devices are used, and often abused, nonstop.
USBee flash drive is a concept created with the view of preventing losing important information by a careless move that can destroy any thumb drive sticking out of the usb port. This usb flash drive is supposed to have an elastic neck to be able to bend in any direction, and quite surprisingly it has something that you wouldn’t expect a flash drive to have – a cooling system.
The design itself is very nice, it probably should be sold with the following warning on the label: “Keep away from children, can be taken for a toy”.
Source: Yanko Design
Am I OK, Computer ?
Sasha | 10:25 pm | March 17, 2008 | Uncategorized
A sad incident happened 2 years ago and a laptop is to blame. A man from Germany was working with the laptop resting on his knees. Unfortunately the man got carried away and took no notice of getting a second-degree burn of his laps and hips.
But heat is unfortunately not the only danger laptop brings.
If you’ve ever spent time sitting slouched on the couch with your laptop or had to live through a long night curled up like a worm on your bed staring into the screen, you will probably feel my pain too. Unfortunately, with time, it gets worse, tight neck will turn into a chronic back problem, and sore eyes will lead to myopia.
But does this mean you have to kick out your brand new 1000£ machine?
Not yet. But if you plan to use a laptop as your primary computer, it does mean that you will need to start taking some steps right now to prevent stress and strain:
1. Elevate the screen so that you don’t have to bend your neck and back
2.Try to sit straight, pay attention to your posture
3. Learn to set up your work station correctly, use external mouse and keyboard if possible, take regular breaks, stretch your body
4. If you still feel aches and pains- get rid of it before it kills you
Le Bag, I Love You
Christine | 3:28 am | March 14, 2008 | Laptop Bags
At first sight, J’tote seems to be a French brand. Apart from the French-sounding name, these laptop bags themselves look so elegant and so touching, that we can’t think of any other country that could possibly produce anything similar.
But, curiously enough, J’tote was launched in the US. Still, there’s something French about these bags. We are not sure if the brand owes it to the design, gentle material or mysterious names such as Aoife (meaning “beautiful” or “radiant”) or Alannah (meaning “darling child”) that each bag bears, but nevertheless J’tote is far ahead of all its competitors, they create not just ladies laptop bags, but wonderful accessories to spice up any outfit.
Source: J’tote Bags
USB Makes You Cool
sergey | 3:26 am | March 13, 2008 | USB Stuff
Besides usual USB suspects, such as keyboards, mice, digital cameras, flash-drives and more specific devices (such as external soundcards), from time to time we come across puzzling, shocking, cute and amusing stuff. For instance, USB powered temperature coolers.
Do you sit long hours at your computer desk without a chance to get up and grab a drink? Then Cool-it USB Beverage Chiller is a must-have accessory. Keep your bottles cool and stay at your laptop as long as you need. It takes only a few seconds for the USB powered coldplate to chill your beverage down to 7 degrees. You can plug it into any USB equipped console, even your Sony Vaio.
Another Japanese USB device helps you cope with sweat in an office on a hot day. A USB powered shirt features a couple of built-in fans (2*10 cm each) which draw light breeze towards your body, vaporizing sweat and lowering your body temperature.
If you find such a shirt way too experimental, there is a more traditional alternative to feel comfortable in the summer, a nice USB powered fan. The device produces an unexpectedly strong blast of wind, and it can be easily bent and set at almost any angle.
Speakers From Hell
Christine | 2:56 am | March 12, 2008 | Laptop Speakers
The idea of hell for some people is a boiling cauldron where sinners are destined to be cooked alive, over and over again, with occasional interruptions for tortures involving horrible demons with hot spiky tails and bad breath.
A neighbour listening to unbearably loud and tasteless music is my idea of hell. And it seems that with today’s technology this hell is getting even more dreadful. Inventing Omnivox and Whispering Windows was the first step to providing sound junkies with devices that can turn any surface, be it a window or a desk, into huge speakers – and providing people who secretly hate their uncontrollable neighbours with headaches and nervousness.
MiidioTM Speakers are a similar product, but with better quality sound and ability to function on any surface. And hell would be very close indeed if it were not for one small thing: a window or a coffee table, on which any of these gadgets can be placed, wouldn’t withstand heavy bass or high pitch music and will break into pieces. Which means that dancing to Joy Division is always going to be better with good old amplifier and powerful speakers.
Source: Miidio via Ubergizmo
Clevo – More Flowers On Laptop Lids
maksim | 4:15 am | March 11, 2008 | CeBIT, Laptop Mods, Laptop News
CeBIT 2008, Hannover, Germany
Laptop brand Clevo, a dark horse from Taiwan, has big and hungry plans for world expansion, judging by this year’s CeBIT show. The company presented several lines of products, from tiny tablet-style portable laptops to big table-sized multimedia machines.
There would have been nothing special about Clevo notebooks if it was not for unusual and some might even say appealing bodywork – flowers, bamboo trees and ladybirds, mixed in with occasional hieroglyphs to make it all look wise and sophisticated, rather than childish and cheap.
It all depends on the fact that you don’t know what the hieroglyphs say, of course. The magic is ruined the moment you know what it means, and it just isn’t worth the risks. Or you may end up painting laptop black again after you find out that it is just a weird old Taiwanese proverb – “Some people prefer liquor, others prefer tofu, and some even like rotten salmon.”
Leather, Wood and Carbon From MSI
maksim | 2:55 am | March 9, 2008 | CeBIT, Laptop News
CeBIT 2008, Hannover, Germany
New laptop manufacturer MSI does not like boring laptops. After they have decorated their laptop with Swarovski crystals, the next step was to expand the range of weird, hardly usable, unusual laptop designs to new eye-caching territories – on this year’s CeBIT there are leather, carbon fiber and wood options.
MSI GX-620 Laptop made from wood:
